


I meant to behave but there were too many other options

by MidnightBlueMoon



Series: December 2018 [14]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M, Starmora was planned for the future but I didn't write that so whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 17:34:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16999497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightBlueMoon/pseuds/MidnightBlueMoon
Summary: A mission to the other end of the universe reveals interesting things.





	I meant to behave but there were too many other options

**Author's Note:**

> Day 14. And I'm late, so that is great. 
> 
> I've had this in my drafts for ages. I always wanted to write more for it, but I never did. So yeah. Here is a piece that has potential I didn't use.  
> The title is a quote I found somewhere on the internet.

The Guardians have a new mission. It’s something boring – a guy had had a deal, but his partner didn’t pay. Now they are supposed to steal some shit Guy A had sold to Guy B but had never seen payment for, and give it back. It’s something all of them have done a hundred times, with and without each other. Maybe that’s the reason why Peter Quill, Star-Lord, the legendary outlaw, and a Guardian of the Galaxy – he really liked his new title – keeps nodding off while Gamora is giving them the details. But now she seems to come to an end and he can’t remember a place or any names, so he risks being beheaded by her. He tries his most charming smile.

“Where are we supposed to go, again?” Rocket’s snort is almost drowned out by him tinkering with something that is probably highly explosive – Peter’s not  _ stupid _ , he knows what a bomb looks like – Drax gives him a look he doesn’t understand, which is nothing new, and Groot dances along to the beat of the song playing in the background. That little guy had some serious chill. 

Meanwhile, Gamora doesn’t even seem to be that angry – it’s like she expected something like this to happen, which is a little hurtful, to be honest. Peter likes to think he is not that predictable. Her glare is almost friendly, by Gamora standards at least, and she has not hit him so far.

“It is still a planet in Quadrant 148, named Sa’lae-Liae. It is numbered as Planet 148-20-3650-284-82. I have only said so  _ twice _ .” Her voice holds a warning, spoken in the ‘Do-not-mess-with-me-Peter-Quill’-tone and it’s scary how often he gets to hear that tone. His hands fly up on instinct, palms towards her – as if anything could stop her. “Okay, relax. I’m listening now.” He gives her his puppy eyes, knowing it will probably annoy her. He’s thinking about how far he can push her when his mind is catching up with what she just said.

“Wait,  _ what _ ?” Suddenly he seems more awake than he has this entire meeting. His mind keeps replaying the identification number, hoping to find a loophole. Nothing. It keeps being the terrifying number he heard the first time. Gamora gives him an irritated look, with so much danger lurking beneath the surface.

“Quill. We. Are. Flying. To. A. Planet. For. A. Job. You got it?” Her annoyance is changing into anger by now, but Peter is already out of his chair, pacing around with his eyes focused on her. He seems more nervous than she has ever seen him. “Say that again.”

Now she looks at him like he is an idiot – which he is, really – and she is thinking of seventy-five ways to strangle him. This scenario is a pretty common occurrence and he usually gives a sassy comment to distract her. Not now. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t kill him right there – he seems so different from the man she has grown to know. 

“The number.” He swallows. “Repeat it? Please?”, he adds at the murderous look on her face. She repeats it through gritted teeth, every digit bringing Peter one step closer to hell. It was not a mistake. His brain had been right and that realization made the blood drain from his face.

“No.” His voice sounded odd in his own ears, so he repeated it. “No. We are not doing this job.” He tries to put strength and confidence in his voice, but his panic seems to shine through a little. Or maybe a little bit more than a little.

Gamora’s eyes narrowed, focusing on him like he was prey. “Why would we turn down such an easy job for that amount of money? It is almost excessive, Quill, and you know it.” Her sharp eyes are dangerously focused on him know and part of him already gives up. There is no way he’s getting away this time. He swears, Gamora notices every drop of sweat on his face right now. He tries to sit down and relax into his char. “I know. I just… I have a bad feeling about this, okay?” He doesn’t even believe his own lie. He tries again. “It could be a trap!” Now he’s just grasping at straws and everyone in the room knows it. Gamora’s fingers tap against her crossed forearms. She doesn’t like being messed around with and her raised eyebrow speak louder than any words could have.  _ Speak now or I will find a way to make you _ . Peter realizes that at some point every noise in the room had stopped. Amazing. Rocket watches him with a very amused and interested expression on his face, Drax looks more confused than anything else and Groot seems pissed that someone – probably Rocket – has turned his music off. Relatable, little guy. Peter wishes there was music playing – maybe he could distract them by suddenly starting to dance? A look at Gamora tells him, no, that would just kill him faster.

Peter squirms in his seat around until he can’t stand Gamora’s glare on him any longer. “Okay! Okay, fine”, he groans, raising his hands in defeat. He doesn’t miss the twitch around Gamora’s mouth, the flicker of a smirk. He half-expects a snarky comment from Rocket, but it doesn’t come. 

“Spill. Now.” Gamora’s voice is calm, knowing she has won this battle already. Hell, she probably has won the damn war already. His shoulders slump down and he sighs.

“I know the planet – I’ve been there before.” There are a lot of raised eyebrows at this statement, but not because it is such an uncommon thing. They all have travelled around, so it’s not totally weird. The eyebrows are all asking a question,  _ why the hell does Peter Quill not want to back there, not even for so much money _ ? “Continue or Rocket might drop something.” Gamora’s voice is too serious and spilling this secret makes Peter’s skin crawl. He rubs a hand over his face. “Do not judge me for it, okay?” Rocket’s smirk tells him everything he needs to know. But he would rather have Rocket make fun of him than have Gamora suffocate him. “I was there, doing a small job.. and I also might or might not have accidentally married someone there.”

He keeps his eyes on the floor until the silence stretches uncomfortably long (more like uncomfortably  _ uncomfortably long _ ) before he looks up.

Gamora’s expression is completely unreadable, but he thinks he recognizes surprise in it. Rocket seems to think the whole things is hilarious if the twitching whiskers are anything to go by. Groot just seems confused. “I am Groot?”, he asks and breaks the silence. Drax just shrugs at him. Peter looks helplessly around. “What did he say?” 

Rocket is still trying very hard not to smirk, but he answers the question anyway. “He wants to know what that means.  _ Marry _ , that is.” Peter notices that Rocket has put his bomb aside and seems suddenly very interested in this conversation. “And so do I.” His sharp teeth flash at Peter when he smiles so wide his face has to hurt. Peter kind of wants to punch him. But his eyes flit to Gamora, who has started to tab against her arm again and the look she gives him is positively  _ murderous _ . “You better explain yourself, Peter Quill. Now.” Peter almost flinches at the sound of her voice. She doesn’t look angry. Well, not by her standards anyway – more like she isn’t sure whether she wants to only punch him or just straight up kill him.

He keeps his hands raised in front of him but stands up because he can’t sit down for this. He paces around the room once, before he can’t drag it out anymore. “Fine! Fine.” Peter feels their eyes on him. It’s not a nice feeling.

He sighs. “I was supposed to steal something. I can’t even remember anymore what it was – a buyer wanted something, and Jondu sent me.” Which was a horrible decision, looking back at it. But they hadn’t known that. “And I was – I was flirting, okay? I wasn’t  _ trying _ to get married! I didn’t even know what the courtship rituals were!” He can hear Rocket’s muffled snickers. Peter whips around and points at him. Rocket looks gleeful, that asshole. “It’s not funny,  _ racoon _ .” It’s low and Peter knows it, but it makes Rocket’s smirk fade a little. His protest is drowned out when Gamora cuts in. “Get to the point, Quill.” She’s still ready to kill him, and Peter swallows, a little terrified. 

“Anyways… I accidentally courted someone there and by the law of the planet, we are married. When I found out, I ran, okay? That’s why nothing’s official. I’m  _ technically _ married, but not be intergalactic law.” He rubs his face when his memories come back. He doesn’t know where they were buried, but he desperately wants them to go back to whatever place they came from. 

Gamora looks at him, seemingly in thoughts. He doesn’t try to make a run for it, though – she could probably catch him in her sleep, with her hands tied.

“Look, guys, I can’t go back. They’ll have my head.” He’s a little worried by the way Gamora doesn’t really seem bothered by that. Peter kind of likes his head. It’s a good head. Pretty face, too.

Gamora looks at him with sharp eyes. “It’s an entire planet. We surely can come and go without meeting your lovely  _ wife _ and get the job done.” The word ‘wife’ makes Peter’s stomach drop. He can feel himself stiffen and hopes they’ll blame it on the mention of the word, not on the next secret he is not ready to reveal. He realizes he’s run out of luck today when the rest of her words catch up with him. (He should just kill himself. Or piss Gamora off enough that she’ll do it.)

His facial expression must betray him because Gamora’s face darkens and she hisses at him. “What? What now?”

His “Nothing!” comes out too fast and too high. When he thought Gamora had looked murderous before, she is now slowly tearing every atom of his being apart. 

“Speak.” Her voice is low and threatening. He kind of wants to curl into a corner and cry.

“Uh… we can’t go there, because we definitely will meet them when we land.” He hates how his voice sounds in his own ears. Hesitant. Pathetic. He just needs to get his over with. “He’s kind of important. The prince, that is.” He’s babbling and he knows it. He closes his eyes because there is no way he can say this while looking at anyone. “My husband is the prince of Sa’lae-Liae."

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know anything about spaceships or space ship navigation. And I shamelessly made up a planet. Whatever. The name for the planet is made-up, but if someone knows something called that, please let me know!


End file.
